By Annie Holub
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 23, 1997

"I'll take 'Breakfast Cereals' for 300, Alex"

Arizona Daily Wildcat

I love "Jeopardy." It's one of two TV shows I will actually admit to watching. True "Jeopardy" fans know the deal: we shout out the answers at the TV and some of us actually keep score to see how badly we'd have kicked the winner's ass. Usually, this is just a form of ego-boosting enjoyed within the confines of our own homes. Most of us only dream of one day saying, "I'd like 'Begins with Q' for 1000, Alex." But now, thanks to the folks at Sony, "Jeopardy" aficionados can compete and win in the comfort of their own homes.

Yes, it's College Jeopardy Online (www.station.sony.com). If you're a college student and at least 18 years of age, you can now go online and compete to win prizes like cars, Gap gift certificates, Sprint phone cards and lots of Sony stuff.

All you have to do is register with the Station, which takes a little while because every screen name you can think of is already taken. After that, it's probably a good idea to skim the rules. Then you're finally ready to play.

The screen fills with a "Jeopardy" console and you click on a dollar amount in the category of your choice. Then it flips to the question and you have 15 seconds to pick your answer. (Multiple choice "Jeopardy" - it doesn't get any better than this, folks.) If you're right, you'll hear a nice ding noise and you can pick the next category. If you're wrong, you'll hear a nasty ha-ha-you're-wrong noise and the computer will pick your next question. Your score and the number of turns you have left (you start with 15) are displayed at all times on the screen.

Categories such as "Kiddie Lit" give you answers like "Wendy, John and Michael's last name in Peter Pan, dear." Click on "Darling" and you're flying. "Foreign Words and Phrases" proposes, "If you know what 'Gelt' means in Yiddish, you'll win some right now."

There are two main competitions, one in the fall, which is ongoing, and one in the spring, beginning Jan. 5 and ending March 30. The fall competition is broken up into 10 qualifying weeks, followed by three elimination rounds. It's currently in the eighth qualifying week. The last one ends Nov. 10. Every week, there are three semifinalists who move on to the final round, which is played in the last two weeks of the competition, at an undisclosed location. You have to play at least three games a week in order to qualify, but you can only play five games per week maximum.

It gets even more complex: this is also a contest between schools. When they show you your stats, they also show the current dollar amount won by University of Arizona students. (We're not even in the top 100 right now.)

In order to effectively play, I suggest a fast modem, a sound card so you can hear the cool MIDI "Jeopardy" music, and a version of Netscape or Explorer above 3.0. Hopefully it won't crash mid-game (as it is inclined to do on my version of Netscape), and you could be the next online College "Jeopardy" champion.